NewEnergyNews: AT THE END OF ST. PADDY'S RAINBOW: NEW ENERGY/

NewEnergyNews

Gleanings from the web and the world, condensed for convenience, illustrated for enlightenment, arranged for impact...

The challenge now: To make every day Earth Day.

YESTERDAY

THINGS-TO-THINK-ABOUT WEDNESDAY, August 23:

  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And The New Energy Boom
  • TTTA Wednesday-ORIGINAL REPORTING: The IRA And the EV Revolution
  • THE DAY BEFORE

  • Weekend Video: Coming Ocean Current Collapse Could Up Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Impacts Of The Atlantic Meridional Overturning Current Collapse
  • Weekend Video: More Facts On The AMOC
  • THE DAY BEFORE THE DAY BEFORE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 15-16:

  • Weekend Video: The Truth About China And The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: Florida Insurance At The Climate Crisis Storm’s Eye
  • Weekend Video: The 9-1-1 On Rooftop Solar
  • THE DAY BEFORE THAT

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 8-9:

  • Weekend Video: Bill Nye Science Guy On The Climate Crisis
  • Weekend Video: The Changes Causing The Crisis
  • Weekend Video: A “Massive Global Solar Boom” Now
  • THE LAST DAY UP HERE

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, July 1-2:

  • The Global New Energy Boom Accelerates
  • Ukraine Faces The Climate Crisis While Fighting To Survive
  • Texas Heat And Politics Of Denial
  • --------------------------

    --------------------------

    Founding Editor Herman K. Trabish

    --------------------------

    --------------------------

    WEEKEND VIDEOS, June 17-18

  • Fixing The Power System
  • The Energy Storage Solution
  • New Energy Equity With Community Solar
  • Weekend Video: The Way Wind Can Help Win Wars
  • Weekend Video: New Support For Hydropower
  • Some details about NewEnergyNews and the man behind the curtain: Herman K. Trabish, Agua Dulce, CA., Doctor with my hands, Writer with my head, Student of New Energy and Human Experience with my heart

    email: herman@NewEnergyNews.net

    -------------------

    -------------------

      A tip of the NewEnergyNews cap to Phillip Garcia for crucial assistance in the design implementation of this site. Thanks, Phillip.

    -------------------

    Pay a visit to the HARRY BOYKOFF page at Basketball Reference, sponsored by NewEnergyNews and Oil In Their Blood.

  • ---------------
  • WEEKEND VIDEOS, August 24-26:
  • Happy One-Year Birthday, Inflation Reduction Act
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 1
  • The Virtual Power Plant Boom, Part 2

    Monday, March 17, 2008

    AT THE END OF ST. PADDY'S RAINBOW: NEW ENERGY

    The urgent logic of New Energy? Double Green: Good for the environment, good for the bottom line. And it becomes Triple Green on St. Patrick’s Day when The Green Exchange begins trading emissions credits.

    In a troubled financial market, there is yet another urgency: The emissions market appears to be uncorrelated to other markets. So the rise of emissions trading also means there is a place for money to migrate where growth can still be expected.

    The best news: As the value of emissions credits goes up, everybody will want to earn them by building and using more New Energy. Erin Go Bragh!

    The Green Exchange is a step toward a mandatory national cap-and-trade system in the U.S. to control emissions. Senators McCain, Obama and Clinton are all backers of legislation for such a system soon to be considered by the U.S. Congress. The idea is to put a rigid cap on the spew of emitting businesses and industries and fine them big time for exceeding the caps.

    Theoretically, this brings market forces to bear on the problem. Rigid caps would immediately hold national emissions right where they are. Then the caps could be ratcheted down, lowering national emissions across the board.

    Businesses and industries would have several incentives to cut emissions: First, to avoid the fines over over-emitting; Second, to add to their incomes by selling credits they don’t require on the emissions trading market; Third, by investing in efficiencies and New Energy sources, to generate more excess credits to sell, thereby upping revenues further.

    Credit buyers in the markets will be emitters who cannot otherwise conduct business. Such business will, however, be disincentivized by cap-and-trade.

    Proper regulation will be crucial. Improper regulation could allot emitters too many free credits, failing to reduce across the board emissions or effectively incentivize reductions. In 2006, undeveloped regulatory skills knocked the European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS) for a loop. That hard lesson has been learned. Europe’s failures are recognized in all of the congressional cap-and-trade plans.

    Research firm New Energy Finance (no relation to NewEnergyNews) predicts a mandatory national market could reach $1 trillion by 2020.

    Economists don’t like cap-and trade as much as they like an emissions tax but most recognize new taxes are politically non-starters. Electorates can't be sold on the obvious logic of a gas tax. A lot more education would be necessary to sell an emissions tax.

    Celebrity footnote: Financial giant Lehman Brothers’ green investment initiatives are overseen by Theodore Roosevelt's great-grandson.


    Major financial institutions start looking for their pot of gold in the NYMEX emissions market starting on St. Patrick's Day. (click to enlarge)

    The Greening of Wall Street; Tackling the carbon crisis amid the credit crisis
    March 13, 2008 (The Economist)

    WHO
    The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX), Evolution Markets; Morgan Stanley; Merrill Lynch; Chicago Climate Exchange (Richard Sandor, founder/operator); European Union Emissions Trading Scheme (EU ETS); New Energy Finance; Ceres; Citigroup (Citi); Bank of America (BofA); JPMorgan Chase

    This might be the gold they find. (click to enlarge)

    WHAT
    The Green Exchange, a joint venture between some of the most influential financial institutions in the world, will begin trading “carbon-linked derivatives contracts.”

    WHEN
    - The Green Exchange begins trading March 17.
    - 2007 world emissions trading markets value: €40 billion ($62 billion).
    - Potential 2020 U.S. emissions trading market value: $1 trillion.

    Emissions trading starts on NYMEX's Green Exchange on St. Paddy's Day. (click to enlarge)

    WHERE
    - Trading will be via NYMEX, the biggest commodities exchange in the world.
    - The EU ETS is the biggest emissions credit trading exchange in the world.

    WHY
    - The New Energy Finance prediction of a trillion dollar market by 2020 does not include derivatives, which could boost trade much higher.
    - The bulk of the action is presently in the EU ETS and Europe-based banks are leading the market. That is why U.S. financial institutions are backing The Green Exchange.
    - Citigroup pledged $50 billion to green initiatives over 10 years and specified $31 billion will go to clean technologies.
    - Bank of America (BofA) pledged $20 billion and will price emissions (at $20 to$40/ton) as part of emitting industries’ loan requests.
    - Citi, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley announced “carbon principles” to estimate emissions costs in loans. (See BANKS DEMAND EMISSIONS STANDARDS)
    - BofA inititives: green credit cards (purchases earn offsets), green mortgages ($1,000 cashback for energy-efficiency), $3,000 to employees who buy hybrid cars.
    Hedge funds and big investors are circling.

    The Green Exchange logo says it all. (click to enlarge)

    QUOTES
    - Mark Tercek, green guru, Goldman Sachs: “[The role of financial institutions dealing with emissions generators is] not to disengage, but to make bad situations better.”
    - Mark Fulton, Deutsche Bank: “Green mutual and exchange-traded funds are booming…”
    - Steve Milloy, climate change skeptic, Free Enterprise Action Fund: “[The bank initiatives are] at best greenwashing, and at worst value-destroying…”

    0 Comments:

    Post a Comment

    << Home